Queen Elizabeth’s funeral: A republic is inevitable but no rush: Gillard
Former prime minister Julia Gillard says it is inevitable that Australia will become a republic but the transition will take time and needs to be worked through.
Former prime minister Julia Gillard says it is inevitable that Australia will become a republic but the transition will take time and needs to be worked through in a “measured and steady” way.
In her first interview since the Queen’s death last Friday, Ms Gillard said the nation would be ready to begin a debate about becoming a republic after the official mourning has ended.
Speaking from London, Ms Gillard said the Queen’s death would unleash a new set of reflections about Australia’s relationship to the royal family.
“I always thought in Australia too it would unleash a new set of reflections about our own constitutional arrangements,” Ms Gillard told the ABC. “But there’s no rush and I certainly endorse what the Prime Minister has said. There’s time for measured discussion. It’s certainly too soon for that now.
“All of those things need to be worked through. And then I think we can have a measured, steady discussion, which will ultimately take us, I think, in the direction of a republic. But it won’t be quick.”
Ms Gillard said the Queen’s death would spark questions about Australia’s national identity, and likened it to how Brits have been considering their future in a post-Brexit world.
“I always thought that when the Queen did leave us, that it would cause a period of reflection,” she said.
“I thought that here in the UK, and there are many issues about national identity that the UK is grappling with: the future of Scotland, the future of Northern Ireland; what it means to be the nation in the world without the contact with the EU that they had, the post-Brexit world in which they now live.”
Anthony Albanese on Friday left the door open to holding a referendum on becoming a republic in the next term of office if Labor is successful at the next election.
In an interview with UK television station ITV, the Prime Minister acknowledged some people wanted to move away from having a monarch as Australia’s head of state, but reiterated it was not an appropriate time to have the debate.
“My job as Prime Minister of Australia is to represent Australia at this historic time,” Mr Albanese said.
“And I believe you can have different views as Australians do – a range of views over our constitutional system, but be united in respect for the life and service that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth showed to Australia, to the Commonwealth and, indeed, to the world,” he said.
“What’s important right now is we take the opportunity to express our gratitude for the service of Her Majesty the Queen, that we have welcomed King Charles III as our new head of state and our system of government.
“It’s important that be respected and acknowledged, at the same time as people will have different views about a way forward in the future.”
Mr Albanese arrived in London ahead of the Queen’s funeral with the Governor-General and alongside an official contingent of travellers including Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, Senior Australians of the Year from this year and last, Valmai Dempsey and Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, and others.
Also on the flight were racing personalities Gai and Robbie Waterhouse after they were unable to book a commercial flight due to high demand.
More Coverage
Time to get rid of Indigenous reconciliation police
The separatist spirit of the voice to parliament lives on in thousands of the nation’s corporate action plans.
One year after the vote, we’re just as divided as we were
At the anniversary of the defeat of the voice referendum, Indigenous senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says the Albanese government has no interest in listening to the voices of marginalised Indigenous people and continues to fail on Aboriginal policy.